Stolen Van Hits 3 People in Brooklyn, Killing 12-Year-Old Girl

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A man driving a stolen minivan jumped a sidewalk in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon, plowing into a family waiting at a bus stop. Joey Sellers, 12, was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital, where her 9-year-old sister and 38-year-old mother remain in critical condition. Police say a man driving a 2005 Dodge Caravan stolen from Sheepshead Bay last week was seen speeding down Flatlands Avenue before losing control of the vehicle at the corner of 46th Street. “He took the turn and the car flipped because he hit the hydrant, and the impact caused the van to flip, and it just landed on these little girls,” witness Jason Harricharan told CBS New York. All three were pinned under the van, and as bystanders lifted the vehicle to free them, the driver climbed out of the window andbolted.

“I saw him trying to get away and I chased him through two different yards, but he kept jumping fences,” neighbor Yves Guejuste, 49, told the New York Post, adding, “I could not keepup.”

Though witnesses say the man appeared to be injured, police believe he managed to run for about a mile, then hid in an alleyway at Avenue J and E. 43rd Street until someone picked him up. Police believe he made a phone call from that location, and are trying to track him using cell-phone records and K-9 dogs, according to police sources. He’s described as a dark-haired, slender man about five feet seven inches tall, with a light complexion. He was last seen wearing a light polo shirt and dark pants, and may belimping.